Kundiawa hospital to resume operations

By LUKE KAMA A MAJOR hospital which was forced to close down because of election-related violence will resume operations from next week as the situation has calmed down. Dr Harry Poka, the chief executive of the Sir Joseph Nombri Memorial Kundiawa General Hospital in Chimbu said clinical services would resume from next week. This was resolved during a meeting of the board and management on Wednesday after reassessing the situation. “We shut down all clinical services based on a decision by the board because of election-related violence during the counting,” he said. Poka said assaults on hospital staff including doctors and patients forced the closure of the hospital. “To protect hospital property, staff and patients, we decided to shut down all clinicial services until declarations were made,” he said. “Now counting has been completed and the hospital will resume normal operation.” But hospital staff living in Gumine district have been advised to stay home because of the conflict between supporters of Dawa Lucas Dekena and Nick Kuman over the election result. “We made an exception based on the situation that staff from Gumine can come back to work whenever the situation calms down,” he said.